Felicity Gerry QC is an international QC with chambers in London, Leeds and Australia. She was Legal Personality of the Year for 2016 and has been recognised in the Legal 500 as “well respected for national and international appellate issues” and “Fearless and independent minded” and in Chambers and Partners as “a vastly experienced advocate noted for her experience in serious sexual cases, homicides and frauds”. She led the appeal that corrected the law on joint enterprise in the UK Supreme Court, described by the BBC as a ‘moment of genuine legal history’ and had appeals on the same subject in Australia and Hong Kong. She works commercially on fraud, bribery, corruption and slavery in supply chains and pro bono, including assisting on death penalty cases.
Felicity has appeared in the BAFTA nominated FGM documentary The Cruel Cut and ABC Foreign Correspondent’s documentary Saving Mary Jane and BBC 3 Series ‘Sex on the Edge’ , Channel 5 April Jones Murder documentary, Channel 5 Sarah Payne Documentary and on all major news channels including ABC, BBC News, Sky News, Russia Today and Al Jazeera.
Felicity is Professor of Legal Practice at Deakin University where she lectures Criminal law and Evidence and is involved in the clinical programs.
She is also an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Western Sydney where she recently taught Independent Study on Terrorism, Cybercrime and Sexual Offending. She is a PhD candidate at Charles Darwin University where she has lectured in International Criminal Law, Transnational Law, Criminal Law and Evidence, Science & Law and ‘Law, Justice & the State’
Felicity leads an Indigenous Justice and Exoneration Project where she provides students and volunteers with pro bono opportunities to research legal issues that affect Indigenous people and assists prisoners serving over 10 years, one of whom was featured in the Zak Grieve Documentary
She is one of the foremost legal experts which broadcasters go to for media commentary and presentation of international legal issues.
Felicity speaking at the Oxford Union debate on Anonymity
FELICITY GERRY QC has recently published in Human Trafficking: Emerging Legal Issues and Applications. She is Co-Author of The Sexual Offences Handbook (now in its second edition) and has forthcoming chapter in European Integration and Democracy Series, devoted to transatlantic data privacy relations as a challenge for democracy. Her co-authored report on Women in Prison: Is the Justice System Fit For Purpose? was described as ‘the most important report since Corston’. She is on the Management Committee of The Advocate’s Gateway which produces toolkits for advocacy with vulnerable people. She has a particular expertise in issues relating to vulnerable witnesses and suspects and recently provided her advocacy expertise to an MDAC project providing training to lawyers across all 28 Member States of the EU on the rights of children with mental disabilities. Her Chapter on vulnerable witnesses and parties in civil proceedings in Addressing Vulnerability in Justice Systems (published 2016) was described as “such a broadly comprehensive chapter on the subject of vulnerability within the legal system that it could stand as a practitioners’ potted guide in itself.
Felicity can be contacted here.
Next Events
Felicity to speak at Joint Enterprise Appeals - second of the CCRC lecture series - "Have the Courts of England & Wales lost sight of justice?”
July 12, 2018UCL
A new CCRC Stakeholder Forum and Lecture Series starting 2018
12th February 2018
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is launching two new significant stakeholder engagement initiatives.
A new CCRC Lecture Series will start on April 25th with a lecture by Sir Brian Leveson called The Pursuit of Criminal Justice. Sir Brian Leveson is Head of Criminal Justice in England and Wales, President of the Queen’s Bench Division and the author of the 2015 Review of Efficiency of Criminal Proceedings.
This inaugural lecture, and the new stakeholder forum, will be hosted by University College London’s Judicial Institute.
CCRC Commissioner David James Smith said “The Commission is delighted that Sir Brian, one of our most senior judges and the new Head of Criminal Justice, has agreed to give the first ever CCRC Lecture. We hope the lecture series will stimulate wider debate about important issues facing the CCRC and the criminal justice system more widely.“
The inaugural CCRC lecture will take place at 6pm on 25 April at UCL Faculty of Laws Bentham House, and will be followed by a Q&A session. Attendance at the lecture is by invitation and there is limited availability. Anyone wishing to express an interest in attending the lecture should let us know by sending an email to: lectures@ccrc.x.gsi.gov.uk
A new CCRC stakeholder forum will meet for the first time on 25 April at UCL in the afternoon before the inaugural lecture. The forum is designed to promote dialogue and understanding between the Commission and a cross section of its key stakeholders and users.
The new stakeholder forum was first mooted in public by David James Smith at the CCRC’S 20th anniversary conference in November last year. He said: “I hope this will be the start of a new phase of greater transparency and openness at the CCRC at a critical time for criminal justice. We aim to put the CCRC at the centre of the debate about wrongful convictions. CCRC staff and Commissioners are looking forward to engaging with stakeholders and users at the new forum and we are always receptive to ideas for improved ways of working.
The forum will be open to a limited number of stakeholders by invitation. Anyone wishing to express an interest should email us at: forum@ccrc.x.gsi.gov.uk
Commissioner David James Smith acknowledged the support of UCL in the new ventures: “Professor Cheryl Thomas of UCL’s Judicial Institute has been an invaluable academic advisor to the CCRC’s Research Committee, and we very much appreciate her and UCL’s support in hosting our new Lecture Series and Stakeholder Forum.”
- The second lecture, “Joint Enterprise Appeals – have the Courts of England & Wales lost sight of justice?” will be given by Felicity Gerry QC on Thursday, 12 July 2018 at UCL, following the second meeting of the Stakeholder Forum that same afternoon at UCL.
- A third lecture and forum are expected to take plane at UCL in November 2018.
Human Trafficking: Emerging Legal Issues and Applications book out now
Order your copy here.
Chapters Include:
- Labor Trafficking: The Garcia Case and Beyond (Gonzalo Martinez de Vedia)
- Human Trafficking in the Drug Trade: Lessons for Attorneys from the Mary Jane Veloso Case (Felicity Gerry, QC)
- The New York Approach: A Lawyer’s Guide to Human Trafficking Intervention Courts (Nicole Campion)
- Human Trafficking and Exploitation in Australia (Fiona McLeod, SC)
- Using Digital Technologies to Combat Human Trafficking: Privacy Implications (Felicity Gerry QC, Julia Muraszkiewicz, LL.M., and Niovi Vavoula, LL.M.)
- Human Trafficking in the Dark: Sex Trafficking on the Dark Web (Bryanne Perlanski)
- Using the New Social Influence Model (SIM) to Pursue Justice for Trafficking Victims (Nora M. Cronin and Alan W. Scheflin)
- Trauma In Sex-Trafficked Children (Melissa L. Breger)
- The Human Rights Argument in Human Trafficking: Duty to Identify Victims (Julia Muraszkiewicz)
- Gender Issues in Human Trafficking: Empowering Women and Girls Through Awareness and Law (Felicity Gerry QC and Catarina Sjölin, LL.M.)
- Human Trafficking and Cults (Robin Boyle Laisure)
At Halsbury Law Exchange’s ‘Think Tank’ event – our paper was described as “the most important report since Corston”
Read it here.
